1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the art of pharmaceutical drugs. More particularly, the present invention relates to the art of the disposal of pharmaceutical drugs. Still more particularly, the invention is directed to a kit that includes constituents or components that change the dynamics or medium of a pharmaceutical drug and which provides visual and taste deterrents for safe disposal of the drug.
2. Background Art
It is well known in the art that medicinal drugs are used routinely for the treatment of a variety of health problems or conditions experienced by patients. These medicinal drugs include drugs that, due to their nature, are restricted and must be prescribed to a patient by a licensed medical practitioner. When such drugs are prescribed, they are dispensed to a patient by a pharmacy and thus are known in the art as pharmaceutical drugs. It is to be understood that, for the purpose of convenience, reference herein to pharmaceutical drugs also includes drugs that are available without a prescription, known as over-the-counter drugs.
In most cases, pharmaceutical drugs are dispensed to a patient in pill, tablet, capsule, gel or liquid form. For the purpose of convenience, all of these forms shall collectively be referred to herein as pills. In some cases, the patient may not finish taking all of the pills that have been dispensed, and then needs to dispose of any remaining pills.
Traditionally, patients disposed of such pharmaceutical drugs by throwing the pills in the trash. However, it was discovered that throwing the pills in the trash without being mixed with deterrents enabled drug addicts or others to illicitly or accidentally obtain restricted drugs, and also led to the possibility that a child or pet might be able to find the pills and consume them out of curiosity. This has also let to the contribution of terra-pollution due to the lack of containment and the eventual washing of the pills into storm sewers and/or water recirculation and water treatment facilities.
Alternatively, patients were advised to flush pharmaceutical drugs down a toilet to dispose of them. It was then discovered that flushing pharmaceutical drugs down the toilet may create water toxicity problems, due to the presence of pharmaceuticals, which are not able to be removed by water treatment facilities.
To overcome the problems created by simply throwing pills in the trash or flushing them down the toilet, government agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have advised patients to mix the pills with used cat litter or used coffee grounds, and then dispose of them in the trash. By not flushing pills down a toilet, the pharmaceuticals and other ingredients do not enter the water supply. In addition, mixing of the pharmaceutical drugs with used cat litter or used coffee grounds provides a deterrent to drug addicts or others who may attempt to illicitly obtain the drugs from a patient's trash, or to children or pets who may attempt to consume pills out of curiosity.
The prior art solution of mixing pharmaceutical drugs with used cat litter or used coffee grounds to dispose of them still possesses disadvantages. For example, not all patients have used cat litter or used coffee grounds available to them when they need to dispose of pharmaceutical drugs. In addition, mixing pills with used cat litter or used coffee grounds, while providing a deterrent, does not change the dynamic of the pharmaceutical drug, so that illicit attempts to obtain the drug from the mixture are still sometimes made.
As a result, there is a need in the art for an apparatus or kit that includes constituents or components that change the dynamic of a pharmaceutical drug or creates an irreversible medium for a pharmaceutical drug, and which provides visual and taste deterrents, to enable safe disposal of the drug by a user of the kit.